


As Long as the Earth Exists

by narashikari



Category: Kamen Rider W (Double)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Child Neglect, Hidari Shoutaro-centric, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shoutaro and Wakana are just bffs, Shoutaro's folks are absentee parents, Wakana and Akiko make Shou's life hard, Wakana helps Shoutaro get out of his rebellious phase, aka W gets erased from history because of Zi-O, and also kind of rich, smart!Shoutaro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2019-11-01 07:52:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17863340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narashikari/pseuds/narashikari
Summary: In a world where the well to the True Gaia Memory is never found, Hidari Shoutaro is alone.Or rather, he should've been. Somehow, he finds himself entangled in the lives of people he should never have met.





	1. Hidari

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or, who was Hidari Shoutaro before all this?

Hidari Shoutaro hates his parents.

The Hidari family is well-off, mainly because Shoutaro’s father is a high-level executive in a huge conglomerate in Tokyo. His mother is a Fuuto native, a scion of the local political family, and well-known as an advocate for clean energy initiatives. Shoutaro himself goes to excellent private schools, and on the weekends he is seen around town wearing Windscale clothing in the latest fashions.

The truth is that Shoutaro is a textbook case of parental neglect. His father isn’t at home majority of the time, as he decided to live in an apartment closet to his workplace and only went home to his family on the holidays. His mother isn’t much better, and she often leaves him to his own devices while she mingles with politicians and socialites to champion her cause.

While they support their son with all his material needs and wants, the Hidari couple aren’t emotionally present in his life. Shoutaro has gone home to a cold, empty house nearly everyday since he was old enough to remember.

* * *

 He remembers being ten, trying not to squirm in the tuxedo his mother stuffs him into. “You look so cute, Shou-chan,” she tells him, smiling fondly as she loops the tie into a Windsor knot.

“Thank you, Mama,” he says, automatically as he was taught.

She tugs the knot tight, almost too tight, and smoothes out the creases before standing. His tie matches her little black cocktail dress, and his shirt pairs with her purple waistband. Shoutaro thinks he would’ve look good had it been a little looser. He feels like he is his mother’s doll, rather than her son.

And the way she parades him around introducing him to her fellow socialites makes him feel cold despite her constant boasting of _‘he’s so smart, he reads all these books, and he’s so behaved, and don’t you think he’s so adorable in a tux?’_ Outside of events like these, his mother never praises him like that. Never.

But he plasters on a smile, trying not wince as his cheek his pulled, because this way he can keep accompanying his Mama to events. Maybe if he spends enough time with her, she'll start spending her own time on him too.

* * *

 They take a trip to Okinawa on the Golden Week before he turns fourteen.

His mother (mother, not Mama, he's too old for that, she says) complains about the heat, but refuses to go into the ocean to cool off; she spends majority of the time grumbling beneath an umbrella by the pool and getting spa treatments at the hotel. Shoutaro inwardly rolls his eyes- why did she spend outrageous amounts of money renting a beachfront view if she hated the beach?

His father takes him out on "adventures", which consisted of sitting out by the shore, pointing out the various VIPs who flocked to the private resort they were staying in. A few times, his father would make him do father-son activities that don't make sense to him (like yachting early one morning when all Shoutaro wanted to do was sleep in like he couldn't on school days) until he sees who else was in the class or party or whatever. 

Once, his father takes him down to the beach, sets them up with drinks (alcoholic ones for himself, and fruit juices for Shoutaro). They settle beneath a shady palm, and Father tells him,

"Alright, Shou, my boy, I'm gonna teach you how to look for a woman. Here's what you do..."

His words are so appalling, that in the next few years Shoutaro swears this is the reason why he spends the next few years single and never ready to mingle.

* * *

Shoutaro goes through a rebellious phase in middle school.

Well, rebellious for _him_ , anyways. He rejects his mother’s meticulously chosen wardrobe for band tees and jeans he finds at thrift stores around town. He dyes a streak of blond into his hair, and after school he goes into town to hang out with other kids his age from the lower neighborhoods his father has a distaste for. And while he’s careful not to fail class, he tries not to think too much about his grades, either- he goes from being a straight-A student to having mostly Bs and Cs.

And he gets into fights. Lots of them. Normally with bullies and thugs and such, but still. It’s at least enough that a local beat cop starts keeping an eye on him, breaking up the fights he gets into, and patching him up when he gets hurt. Sometimes he would even bring Shoutaro to the Fuumen Ramen Cart just to talk with him.

Even so, his parents didn’t seem to notice anything amiss. His mother keeps him buying clothes she doesn’t see him wear, and neither of his parents comment on his falling grades. Once, he went home one day with a black eye and a split lip, and his mother didn’t even so much as bat an eyelash before she flounced off to whatever gala she was invited to. (He gapes at her for a moment, before realizing he can’t even bring himself to call her to stop and say _look at me, don’t you see I’m hurt?_ )

Somewhere deep inside him, he knows they were never going to change. His father is so distant Shoutaro barely remembers when they’d last spoken, and his mother… only seems to see him as a tool to further her agenda.

If _Jinno_ manages to care enough about him to treat him to ramen and treat his injuries despite knowing Shoutaro for only a few _weeks_ , what does it say about _his parents_ that they _don’t_ despite being _their son_?

(And that he is right is why he hated them most of all.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Footnotes:  
> (1) I got the idea of Shoutaro being from a political family when I remembered that episode with that kid who was being used by her mom to gain sympathy for her political campaign. Shoutaro was pretty pissed at the mom, which made me think if he knew from personal experience how that felt.  
> (2) Shoutaro's age: My hcs of him has him as having turned 21 sometime between Begins Night (December 2008) and the start of the series (August 2009). This is to avoid any weird age gaps with him and Raito/Philip (who was 17 during the main series by way of him having "died" 12 years prior when he was 5). and the implication that Sokichi let him drop out of high school to work for him.


	2. Wakana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shoutaro meets the wrong sibling first.
> 
> Or does he?

He tries to go through high school the same way as he did in middle school. Keyword _tries._

His high school has a special tutoring program for students who are falling behind, ostensibly so they can raise their grades enough for their college applications. Shoutaro’s teachers put him into the program, under the tutelage of a junior named Sonozaki Wakana.

 _Sonozaki_ , as in the wealthiest family in all of Fuuto. _Sonozaki,_ as in the type of person his mother would encourage to him to cozy up to.

At first, Shoutaro tries to stay aloof from her. He couldn’t escape from the remedial classes, so he sits through the lessons with her, teeth gritted. When she drills him on the material, he answers correctly (because he’s not actually stupid, he just doesn’t care enough to study it until he was forced to) so that he can go home immediately when the two-hour period is over.

But Wakana is surprisingly persistent with him. Everyday since he started the classes with her, she would ask him to hang out over coffee, invite him to get milk tea, or even go shopping with her. He always rebuffed her offers, stating he had to go home (to his lonely, empty house) or do some errands (which was genuine only half the time).

One day she shows up at his classroom during lunchtime, carrying a lunchbox and marching up to his seat. “Let’s have lunch together,” she says, snatching his unwrapped lunchbox with one hand and grabbing him by the arm with the other, dragging him out despite all the stares directed at them. (And why not, it’s not like the most popular girl in the entire school usually demands a random freshman to eat lunch with her…)

She leads him out to the outdoor dining area, ignoring the people who gape at them, and forces him to sit across her at an isolated table away from prying eyes. She plops down and slides his lunch over to him. “Look, Hidari, I just want to talk to you okay? I have questions and I need answers.”

“Okay, I guess?” he replies, taking that as his cue that it was okay for him to also start eating.

After they both said “Itadakimasu” and took a few bites, Wakana speaks up. “So Hidari,” she says, “what’s your deal?”

Shoutaro blinks. “My deal?”

Wakana levels a glare at him. “You’ve been at this school for three months and you haven’t signed up for any clubs or sports teams. You don’t seem to hang out with anyone I know, and trust me, I know a _lot_ of people in this school,” she tells him. “And I _know_ you’re not as dumb as you try to make yourself out to be.”

The older girl slams a piece of paper onto the table. Shoutaro recognizes it as the mock science exam she’d given him the previous day. He’d gotten a perfect score. “You haven’t even covered this in class yet, Hidari. I asked Sensei. And we haven’t gone over it, either.” She smirks at him. “You’re actually _ahead_ of everyone else. Which means, you’re failing _on purpose_ . And I want to know _why.”_

Shoutaro stares at her for a long moment, dumbfounded and at a loss for words. After regaining his composure, he spills the story: his parents’ blatant neglect, his attempts to rebel in order to catch their attention before that failed, and his continuing to act the same way simply because it didn’t seem to matter anymore since they never will.

Wakana looks at him as if he were as dumb as he made himself to be. Shoutaro wants to laugh at irony of it. But instead of yelling at him or calling him an idiot, all she says is, “Have you ever thought that maybe you need to succeed for yourself, and not for them?” She smiles at him. “Get your shit together, for your own sake, Hidari.”

* * *

 Wakana’s words cut him deep. He spends the night tossing and turning, unable to sleep as it echoes into his thoughts. He realizes: she’s right. He needs to get his shit together for his own sake. He needs to make his life worth something to himself, and himself alone.

The next day he shows up at their session with tired, sleepless eyes, and she’s about to voice her obvious concern when he interrupts her. “Do you think I can still sign up for the track team? And maybe the lit club?”

Wakana’s grin is dazzling. “Let’s go see what we can do about that.”

* * *

 Wakana stops tutoring him once his grades pull up, but they still hang out pretty regularly. They grab milk teas and coffees on the weekends, they have lunch together twice a week and he even escorts her to the radio station every Friday when she does her “Healing Princess” show, which he listens to on a portable radio he bought just for that.

About a month after, he starts calling her “Wakana”, and she starts referring to him as “Shoutaro”. No suffixes required.

She even manages to drag him to Windscale for the first time in forever, giggling gleefully as he struck pose after pose for her amusement in clothes they picked together. He shows her a “hard-boiled” style ripped from the covers of the detective novels he likes, complete with fedora, and she laughs herself silly with an approving thumbs-up.

It isn’t really surprising when rumors about their relationship start swirling, when Wakana is seen cheering for him at the prefectural meet, or when Shoutaro somehow manages to get a ticket to Wakana’s concert when it sold out in hours.

When confronted, both deny the rumors, laughing hysterically, as if it were unthinkable for them to even consider it.

(They actually have reasons for this, but that’s something they don’t need to know.)

* * *

 About a year after they first met, Wakana’s brother falls ill.

She puts on a brave face, but he can tell she’s worried sick. She asks him to escort her to the hospital a few times, and one time breaks down in his arms when the night before his condition took a dangerous turn (which was thankfully averted, thanks to their trusted doctor).

Shoutaro hates seeing Wakana cry. Actually, he hates seeing _anyone_ cry.

The next day, he presses something into her palm before she goes in to see her brother. “What… a Fuuto-kun keychain?” she asks, seeing a miniature of the city’s mascot in her hand.

“It’s one of the first ones ever made,” he explains, “and my good luck charm." It's helped him win the 100 m in the school sports festival twice in a year now, and it has even been blessed by Fuuto Shrine's head monk. "I want you to give it to your brother. I think he needs it more than I do.”

She blinks at him, eyes watering. “Okay. If you say so, Shoutaro.” She daintily wipes at her eyes. “Thank you.”

Her brother, miraculously, gets better.

* * *

They slowly revolve in a circle, soft music playing in the background. She clings onto him, one hand on his shoulder, the other clutching the front of his shirt. He feels tears wetting his jacket, and he in turn tightens his hold around her waist. His nose keeps bumping the plastic crown awarded to Wakana when she was voted prom queen.

It’s prom night, and Wakana is graduating in a few days. She is leaving to attend university in the United States soon after.

They’ve made promises to keep in touch, of course. Emails twice a week. A video chat at least once a month. But they both know it won’t be the same. All they can hope for is that their friendship can withstand the distance.

Shoutaro leans his head up a little, and brushes his lips over her temple in a chaste, platonic kiss. “Thank you for everything, Wakana,” he whispers in her ear. It’s all he can do to express his gratitude for all she has done for him.

Her tears soak through his jacket, but her voice is nothing but fond as she teases, “Idiot!”

* * *

 After Wakana leaves, Shoutaro throws himself into his studies and club activities. He places third in his last prefectural meet, manages to get a short story he wrote published in the local newspaper, and somehow gets voted prom king, for reasons he can never fathom.

Before he knows it, he’s fighting tears in front of his peers, their teachers and parents (his are present, for once) and lowerclassmen, as he makes a speech on behalf on the graduating class as their valedictorian. (Yes, that’s right, _valedictorian_. He can almost hear Wakana say, “See what happens when you apply yourself?”)

When he finishes his speech and he bows to his audience, the principal grins, almost in mischief, as he speaks his next words. “Presenting flowers to Hidari Shoutaro-san, valedictorian and representative of the class of 2007 on behalf of our teachers and staff… Sonozaki Wakana-san, Fuuto Academy class of 2006.”

And Shoutaro stops bothering to maintain his composure and let his tears fall as he wraps his arms around his best friend once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WAHAHAHAHAHA yes I just did that :D 
> 
> And yes, this means Wakana is responsible for Shoutaro's fashion sense in this AU... so blame her if you find him dorky or sexy :P
> 
> Footnotes:  
> (1) High school in Japan is equivalent to the 10th to 12th grades, and would be attended from the ages of 15 to 18. Additionally it's not compulsory, although most students do go on to attend and finish high school in spite of this. I'm skeptical of the implication that Shoutaro dropped out to work with the boss in the main timeline because Sokichi probably wasn't that irresponsible over his apprentice's education. Especially with Fuuto Tantei revealing that Shou was very young when he met Sokichi.  
> (2) Shoutaro would've gone to high school in 2003-2006 if going by my hc about his age. I didn't think she could be much older than him due to her own age gap with Raito/Philip, so I placed Wakana as being a year older than Shoutaro.  
> (3) Yes they have prom in their high school shush. If Ama High can have it so can theirs


	3. Akiko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shoutaro meets the daughter he once didn't hear of first.

Shoutaro meets Narumi Akiko his freshman year of university. On the very first day, in fact.

Just like any other freshman, the new environment  and the freedom to choose what to _learn_ makes him out of sorts, apprehensive and nervous, but at the same time, excited and eager.

He enters Fuuto University on an athletic scholarship, and while he hasn’t been required to disclose a major yet, he wants to get a degree in criminal justice or something similar (which has the advantage of pleasing his parents, since it could lead him to law school), and has arranged his curriculum accordingly. He doesn’t quite know why he wants it, only that he does.

He ends up taking an introduction class to Japanese law, which is where he meets Akiko. She introduces herself to him when she takes the empty seat next to him. He doesn’t quite know what gives him away, but somehow she figures out it’s his first day because she says, “Heya freshie, the name’s Narumi Akiko, pleased to meet’cha!”

Shoutaro blinks at her. “Hidari Shoutaro,” he says, shaking her hand once. “You can call me either way.”

She grins back at him. “Okay, Shoutaro-kun,” she says. “I have the feeling we’re gonna be great buds!”

* * *

 Akiko is… unique. She’s a loud, proud Osakan with a thick Kansai dialect, terrifyingly easy to annoy and difficult to appease. Where Wakana has the refined grace of ladies belonging to her station, Akiko has the rough attitude of someone raised in the working class, which would’ve shocked him if not for the people he hung out with in his rebellious years.

She isn’t someone his mother would approve of, that’s for sure.

Not that he likes her that way- he’s certain that Akiko is not his type.

Actually, he’s _never_ had a type.

To her credit, she takes it in stride when he tells her, after he kindly rejects yet another proposal from a girl in their class to go on a date. In fact, she flabbergasts him by saying, “Oh, is that all?”

“What do you mean, ‘Is that all’?!” Shoutaro demands.

“Shoutaro-kun,” Akiko sighs at him, “there are more people in the world than just the straights and gays, you know?”

She tells him about a class she took her freshman year, a gender and sexualities course. She throws terms at him he’s never even heard of, like _panromantic_ and _asexual_ , and explains how seeing someone as beautiful is separate from being sexually attracted to them, which is also different from being romantically attracted to them. And she says that orientation may change over time, and that there was no shame in that.

It blows his mind that there’s more to love than just finding a girl to settle down with like his father always told him to. And he thinks he’s finally found a word to describe himself, after all this time. Or words, close enough.

“Akiko,” he says, “I think I might be ace. Or demi, at the very least.” Akiko laughs, heartily. “What? What’s wrong about that?”

She shakes her head, smiling mischievously. “Nothing! It’s just, the demisexual flag is white, black, and grey with a stripe of purple.”

He blinks, looking down on his outfit, a favorite of his: a _white_ dress shirt, _grey_ pants, his _black_ moto jacket, and a tie- a _purple_ one today. “Oh.” He's been dressing in his colors for years now, and never even knew.

* * *

“I should regret this, shouldn’t I?” Shoutaro sighs as he unhappily trails after his friends.

“I don’t see why you should, Shoutaro-kun~” Akiko sings, giggling as she and Wakana skip to the next few shops with linked arms.

He sighs and looks at Akiko’s extremely besotted boyfriend, who shrugs in return and helps Shoutaro gather up the bags the girls left behind.

Shoutaro wonders how he managed to get himself in such a troublesome situation. Ah, yes, he had kept in touch with Wakana as promised, and told her about Akiko in passing, but she’d been so curious about the other woman and kept asking after her. Then one day she returned to Japan on spring break, showing up at campus unannounced and invited them both to a day out shopping. Akiko then dragged her boyfriend into the mix, and there they were.

If only he’d shut his stupid mouth, he wouldn’t be stuck carrying the girls’ shopping with some dude he never met before.

Though he’s honestly surprised at how well Wakana and Akiko are getting along. Aside from having him as a friend, they were so different that they might as well be night and day. Or so he used to think before now.

Apparently, they share at least three more things in common: a love for shopping and gossip, a fondness for cute plush animals, and above all, the insatiable need to tease Shoutaro relentlessly.

“Oh, really? I didn’t know he became such a little heartthrob!” Wakana says with a giggle, after being told how many girls he’d rejected from their class.

“Gosh, if only you saw how many guys stare at his ass when we walk by,” Akiko replies. “The one time I saw him at practice, I swear one of the track guys tripped over a hurdle because he was distracted by it!”

“No way,” Wakana gasps, “even the guys want him!” And the two burst into giggles once more.

Forget if he _should_ regret it, he already _does_ regret it!

* * *

Akiko breaks up with her boyfriend abruptly after that. When Shoutaro asks in his worry for her, she turns to him with a frown so deep and angry that stops him in his tracks and makes him break out into a cold sweat. He has never seen Akiko so furious and it’s scary how menacing she was.

“He was saying bad things about you to me, Shoutaro-kun,” she explains with gritted teeth. “So bad that the first thing I did was punch him in the face. Then he tried to grab me, so I kicked him in the nuts.”

Shoutaro blinks, then winces. Of course Akiko would go straight for the balls. She never holds back when she wants to put the hurt on. He holds back on his sympathy though; Akiko never hits someone for no reason. “What was he saying about me for you to get so riled up?” He asks.

Akiko blushes in fury. “H-He used the f-word,” she says, then looks down. “It’s because I made that comment when we were out with Wakana, I think. I didn’t think he’d take it seriously. And he’s never shown this kind of behavior to me before.”

She shakes herself. “Well. Anyways. I won’t be seeing him ever again, and if he comes near us again I’ll really give him a beating!” she roars.

His jaw drops, and all he can say is “Oh” and a mumbled “Thank you”, sincerely shocked at the gesture.

* * *

A week later he, Wakana and Akiko have another day out. This time it’s a late-afternoon screening of _Spirited Away_ at the cinema _,_ and dinner at Akiko’s.

Akiko’s apartment is in the suburbs of Fuuto, above a billiards hall of all things. It’s small, but cozy and homey, unlike Shoutaro’s house, cold and empty. It’s filled with knick knacks of all sorts, framed family photos and newspaper clippings on the wall. A shelf of books filled with multiple copies of Doyle and Chandler novels is probably the oddest thing in the room.

The two of them terrify him with their lack of knife skills as they chop up vegetables and potatoes for a simple meal of curry rice. (He’s been making himself dinner since he was tall enough to look down the countertop.) At least Akiko can operate a rice cooker though...

Wakana is delighted when he slowly stirs the block of roux into the pot, dissolving it. “How fascinating!” she says, then blushes when he and Akiko both look at her in bemusement. “Ah, sorry. That’s Raito rubbing off me, haha.” She nudges Shoutaro with a teasing grin. “You know, if that tastes as good as it smells, I might just let you marry him. He still has a crush on you, Fuuto-kun-san~”

“What?” Shoutaro’s as shocked as he was the day Wakana flung herself into his arms crying tears of joy and proclaiming his charm effective- and she didn’t mean the Fuuto-kun keychain. “He’s still hung up on me?”

“Your little brother calls him ‘Fuuto-kun-san’?” Akiko smiles like the cat that caught the canary. “Aw, Shoutaro-kun, that’s so adorable!”

“Because he was eleven at the time, for fuck’s sake!” Shoutaro exclaims. “He’s only sixteen right now!”

“That’s old enough for him to get off on you if he wants,” Akiko says. Shoutaro frowns at her, and Wakana makes a face, clearly disturbed at the idea of her little brother having sexual fantasies of her best friend, cute crush or not.

They finally finish making dinner and set Akiko’s kotatsu up to eat. She leaves out a plate, for her father she says, before she sits opposite him to eat. They say ‘itadakimasu’ at once and start eating with gusto.

They’re halfway finished with their plates when the front door opens and closes, and an older man steps into view. “Welcome Tou-chan!” Akiko greets with a smile.

Wakana, on the other hand, stares and gasps. “Sokichi-san?!” she exclaims in surprise, making everyone turn to her.

Sokichi blinks for only a moment before he regains his composure. He slips off his hat and bows gallantly. “Wakana-hime.” He hangs the hat up on a hook by the door before slipping his shoes off and stepping into the main room. “And this must be Shoutaro-san,” he says with a warm smile.

“Hold on,” Akiko says, sitting up in surprise, “How do you know Wakana-chan, Tou-chan?”

“Her mother is an old friend of mine,” he explains as he sits with them, discarding his while suit and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. “She occasionally hires me to do some work on behalf of her company. Wakana-hime’s sister, Saeko-hime, is my goddaughter.” He takes a bite of curry rice and blinks. “Did you make this, Akiko?”

“No Sir, I did,” Shoutaro answers, then blushes. “She helped me, though. So did Wakana.”

Sokichi nods. “I see. Well, only a hard-boiled man would know how to fill his stomach, so good job,” he praises, continuing to eat. Shoutaro is so unused to the praise that he feels his cheeks redden.

During the meal, Narumi-san gives him the impression of being a kind, polite man who has an interest in his daughter’s life. He asks after her studies and her part-time work in the Fuuto Police Department, laughing heartily when she admits a new rookie cop had asked her out for coffee the next day. When he asks Shoutaro about himself, he’s so surprised because it’d been so long since he was asked outside of his mother’s various social gatherings.

“I-I…” He’s speechless for a moment, before gathering his wits and coughing out a reply. “I actually just joined the writer’s society at our college… I guess they thought that story I wrote once was good, haha…”

“They were practically begging him to join, Tou-chan!” Akiko enthuses, “It was that story you showed me a year ago I think? In the Fuuto Inquirer, I think?”

“Ah, I recall that. _A Bouquet of Justice to This City,_ if I’m not mistaken.” Sokichi agrees, “It was a good story. I remember clipping out the article and saving it in a folder at the office… I have to go find it now, I suppose…”

Shoutaro blushes again, though Narumi-san doesn’t notice as he turns to Wakana and asks after her sister and mother. He sees Akiko smile at him, and mouth ‘I knew you’d impress him!’

Shoutaro lets himself smile, in spite of himself. _This_ , he thinks, _is what family should feel like._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Footnotes:  
> (1) It's occurred to me after writing this that Akiko's greeting to Shou sounds an awful lot like something Gentaro would say, lmao.  
> (2) Demi Shoutaro for the win. Shoutaro's reaction to Akiko's nonchalance pretty much is how I reacted when I came across the term and realized how it applied to me and hoe there were people who don't really care either way. And yes, I did look up some photos of Shoutaro- he owns all the clothes I mentioned here in canon.  
> (3) Haha I had so much fun in with the shopping scene. It kinda bothered me neither Wakana or Akiko really had girl friends in the show, so it seemed logical to put them together... and make poor Shou regret it.  
> (4) Yes, even the guys want him. Have you all seen Renn Kiriyama? Have you all seen his ass (because holy crap it is glorious)?  
> (5) No, Akiko's asshole boyfriend is not Terui. That's all I'll say on the matter.  
> (6) Is there any version of Wakana and Akiko that won't be terrifying with a knife?  
> (7) EVERYTHING'S CONNECTED IN AU  
> (8) Guess where I got that title from~
> 
> Next chapter: Shoutaro gets a job... and adopted. Sort of.


	4. Sokichi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or: how Shoutaro becomes Narumi Sokichi's apprentice... and maybe even his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, it's back!

Shoutaro starts having dinners with Akiko and her father, most days.

Actually, scratch that, he starts going home with Akiko. Her father has been reluctant to send him home, ever since he let it slip that his parents aren’t home most of the time. They set him up in the guest room, which only has a chest of drawers, a bed and a chair. Sokichi sets up for him a bookshelf, a little side table and a study table. Other than that, Sokichi tells him to decorate the room as he pleases.

Shoutaro loves it.

He all but moves in with them, leaving only enough clothes and a few other things at his house (that place hasn’t been home to him in years) just in case his mother decides to snoop, which works out because she buys him all sorts of things he never uses. He only goes back whenever one of them tells him they will be home (which, unusually but quite expectedly, is one thing they are good at doing).  

The weekend after Sokichi gives him the spare bedroom, he and Akiko go out and buy a few things for it. First are a few sets of beddings- a black and dark grey set with purple details, a light grey one with satin silver lining, an electric blue one with slightly lighter edging. They also purchase two LED lamps in black- one for his bedside, which can extend up and over for when he reads in bed, and another one for his desk when he studies.

They spend day after carefully rearranging the room, pushing Shoutaro’s bed near a window and debating whether to place the bookshelf by his study nook or by the bed. (The study nook won out because Shoutaro also happened to need a place to put his printer on that won’t take up space on his desk.) Then, just because he can, he pins up some posters he’s carefully hidden before then- one of his high school track team, his current track team, a few for the jazz and rock artists he liked, and one of Wakana’s old concerts he went to.

And he adds a record player- one of the few superfluous gifts his father had given that Shoutaro actually likes- to his study nook, since he likes listening to music while studying. He doesn’t have many records, so he knows the songs he listens to almost by heart now. (Including the ones Wakana released, of course.)

The day after Shoutaro lugs it in, he finds a wrapped gift on his bed when he and Akiko come home from school. He unwraps it to find a vinyl by his favorite singer- a rare, original release, the aged cover revealing its vintage. One which Shoutaro has never found even in his hours of perusing the music shops all over town.

The note reads, ‘To Shoutaro. Welcome home, son. -Sokichi.’

He doesn’t even mind Akiko walking in on him sniffling an hour later as the soft, dulcet tones of the sax echoes through the apartment.

* * *

He repays the favor by helping with the chores around the house.

He splits the errands with Akiko, who does the dishes and the sweeping up and the laundry, Shoutaro takes charge of keeping them fed by doing the shopping and the cooking. (Might as well, since the first time Akiko fed him something she made, he had seriously asked her how she and her father survived on burnt stir-fry and salty instant miso soup.)

The owners of the mom-and-pop stores he frequents on the shopping street seem pleased he was shopping for more than one these days. The butcher hands him a hunk of beef a little heavier than he pays for, winking playfully; the old lady at the fruit stand wraps up the best apples and berries for him; the fishmonger gives him a small discount on the salmon he’s eyeing. He even finds one day that the grocer’s been slipping him all sorts of weird things he integrates into the meals.

And he finds himself working quite hard into improving his various recipes to impress them. While Akiko loudly (and proudly) complains about how he’s so much better than her at cooking anything and everything, Sokichi’s praise is more subdued but still appreciative, supportive, and genuine.

It’s not new anymore to Shoutaro, of course, to hear genuine praise, but it’s new coming from… someone he thinks is a parental figure. Someone who’s given him a home, and warmth, and maybe even a father’s love.

Sokichi, somehow, has become the parent he barely ever had.

* * *

 Sokichi teaches him how to ride a motorcycle.

The thing is, Shoutaro does have a motorcycle- the same model as Sokichi’s, even- a Honda CBR1000RR. His father gave it to him for his sixteenth birthday, with the promise to bring him out riding ‘one of these days’ (his father doesn’t even _have_ a motorcycle.) He never bothered learning and it sat in the garage gathering dust for two years, until Sokichi convinced him to take it out for a spin.

The first time goes smoother than he anticipated. He keeps thinking he’d flip over as soon as he got on, but he manages to drive around the track Sokichi brought him to twice- at a low speed, of course, and with Sokichi following close behind- before he overturns. He braces himself for impact, yelling out as he falls. Fortunately the bike doesn’t crush him, and his pads cushion his fall.

“Shoutaro!” Sokichi’s at his side in an instant, helping him sit up. “You okay, son? Are you hurt?”

He stretches out his limbs and gets to his feet, Sokichi supporting him carefully. “I’m good,” Shoutaro replies, wincing only the tiniest bit at the pressure on his arm.

“You sure?” Sokichi asks, shifting his hold slightly so he wasn’t touching the bruise forming underneath his shirt.

“Yeah,” Shoutaro nods surely. “I’m going to try again.”

Sokichi eyes him with scrutiny, but helps him right his bike with a proud smile. “Alright, son,” he says, straightening his own cycle and settling onto it, putting his discarded helmet back on. “I’ll be right behind you, Shoutaro. Don’t worry.”

Shoutaro feels his ears heat up beneath his helmet, but starts up the engine once more, and slowly starts down the track again. Sokichi matches his speed, and Shoutaro feels his eyes on him the entire time.

Shoutaro takes a deep breath, and puts a little more power into the engine, causing a slight increase of speed as the path takes a sharp curve. Sokichi is still matching him, and as they turn, the other slows just a smidge, observing him, and when Shoutaro successfully makes the turn, he catches up with Shoutaro once more.

“Alright,” Sokichi says as they ride leisurely to the next turn. “Let’s try adding a bit more speed now.” He nods, watching the accelerometer clock up to 20 kph, the minimum speed limit in Fuuto.

Suddenly, he remembers a vague, almost dream-like memory of his father in better times. He was on a bicycle, learning how to ride without training wheels for the first time. His father had pushed him along, telling him to _pedal and pedal, don’t stop Shou!_ It took a few false starts, his Papa soothing him when he fell over, and smiling while saying _it’s okay, try again, I know you can do it._ Before he knew it he was at the end of the path, and his father had let go of the bike and was watching him as he turned around back towards him, cheering for him. _You did it! I’m so proud of you!_

He takes the turn, once more, and does so perfectly. “You’re doing good, kid! Keep it up!” And there’s the same pride Shoutaro once basked under, and-

He’s left Sokichi behind- far enough that he’s trailing behind him, but close enough that Sokichi can close the distance in a snap if he needs help. Far enough to let him do it on his own, but close enough that he can catch him when he falls.

Shoutaro laughs. “Try and keep with me old man!” he boldly declares, and lets the engine roar as his confidence soars.

* * *

His first year of college ends with him on the top of the dean’s list and getting the gold at a intercollegiate competition, and soon he faces a boring, uneventful month-long break. That is, until Sokichi decides to take him to work one day.

Sokichi is a private detective, who runs his agency with his partner Matsui “Matsu” Seiichiro. Most days, he explains, the most they get are lost pet requests that are easily resolved, but they bring in enough business to keep them afloat. Some days, they don’t much work at all, and that’s when they get to catch up on paperwork and such. However, there were also days when they had some rather interesting cases, too.

Shoutaro’s always had a mild fascination with detectives, but it becomes an actual career choice under Sokichi’s guidance. All he has to see are the smiles on the clients’ faces to know that Sokichi’s work is doing a difference in the city, even if it’s just over a lost cat being found. The smile on Sokichi’s face tells him the same thing.

He spends days tailing Sokichi when he does footwork, questioning witnesses and looking for clues. He learns how to document cases and take photographs of crime scenes, how to preserve the chain of evidence and do research. He takes to it like a duck to water, and eventually he’s sent out of the agency on his own to do footwork on his own.

He becomes a fixture in the office, such that when some of Sokichi’s regular clients or his informants come along, they call out a greeting to him too. An old lady who insists on coming by with treats as repayment for a case Sokichi solved long ago makes enough sweets for three men instead of two now, and the two teens who act as Sokichi’s contacts giggle and blush around him. He’s reunited with a proud Jinno who ruffles his hair and beams whenever they meet and Sokichi’s old friend brings along a candy apple for him whenever he came by, just because Shoutaro said he liked them once.

When night falls, he goes home with Sokichi, an armful of case files in hand to pore over before bed. After dinner, he makes himself some iced lemon tea (brewed from tea bags and barely sweetened with honey before cooled, not made from that sugary powder crap) puts on a record and reclines on his bed with a notebook and pen as he reviews them. He makes notes and reads the files till his eyes blur, then returns the cases to Sokichi with various questions that he’s mostly able to answer, but sometimes stumps him too.

It’s a productive month, he thinks. March passes like in a dream and soon Shoutaro has to return to university for the new school year. 

* * *

The day before he returns to school, Sokichi calls him into the study and hands him a wrapped box. He unwraps it to find a grey and white checkered fedora with a black ribbon trim around the crown. He turns it over in hands in wonder, rubbing the soft fabric under his fingers. It’s a Windscale one, which means it won’t have come cheap. “Sokichi-san…”

“Shoutaro,” Sokichi cuts off. “You’ve come quite far in the month you’ve been working with me and Matsu,” he says with a smile that has Shoutaro blushing once more. “I know I can’t force you to do anything, but… I would like it if you came to work for me someday. We can make a great detective out of you yet, son.”

Shoutaro blinks, his thoughts running a hundred miles a minute. What he blurts out is, “Is the hat a bribe?”

Sokichi laughs. “A gift,” he corrects. “And one I would not give to someone who is not worthy of it. A true man, Shoutaro.” He reaches up and ruffles his hair. “I’m proud of you, son.”

Shoutaro sniffs. “I’ll think about it,” he says, averting his eyes so Sokichi doesn’t see his tears. Sokichi hugs him anyway.

* * *

"Uh, yeah, I'm Hidari Shoutaro from the Law and Poli Sci department? I'd like to talk to my academic advisor about arranging my curriculum to prepare for a career as a private detective."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Footnotes:  
> (1) I always pegged Shoutaro to be secretly fond of vinyls, love for sugar pop idol songs notwithstanding, so :P It fits in with his vintage aesthetic too  
> (2) Yup, that's the model the HardBoilder is based off on. Same goes for Skull's Rider Machine, too.  
> (3) Yeah Matsu's alive here, since even the Skull portion of Movie War Core has been retconned. Don't worry too much about it.  
> (4) The typical Japanese college year starts in April and ends in March, therefore they have one month-ish of vacation between years. They also have several long breaks in between.
> 
> Next up: Philip... or rather Raito makes his appearance at last!


	5. Raito

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shoutaro's encounter with the one he would've called partner.

Shoutaro meets Wakana’s younger brother not through Wakana, but through his mother, of all people.  
  
His mother, strangely, decides to run for Fuuto’s mayorship. She has never told him of any political ambitions- then again, they don’t really talk anymore- and it takes him by surprise when she tells him that she has formally submitted her candidacy, and intends to throw a cocktail at her to celebrate it and drum up support for her causes. Just in time for the holidays, too.  
  
Shoutaro once more finds himself stuffed into a sharp, bespoke two piece suit, though this time he tells the tailor to loosen the fit a touch to give him some breathing room. It’s classic black, this time, worn with a crisp white shirt and a skinny black tie, no way matching his mother’s brightly colored pantsuit, made to look her powerful, capable but approachable and more importantly, noticeable.  
  
As always, he escorts his mother around the party, looking and acting like the ever loyal son standing by his mother’s side. The who’s who of Fuuto is there- socialites, journalists, other politicians, business owners- his mother’s constituents-to-be. Some of them are his mother’s friends, who coo over him saying  _how handsome you’d become_ , and  _I think you’d make a good match for one of their daughters, won’t you come by some time and meet them_? Shoutaro barely stammers out a half-assed answer of  _maybe sometime_ , unable to say that he will never fall in love with one of their snooty, vapid daughters.  
  
Fortunately, he’s saved by his mother’s insistence to greet their most esteemed guests, the Sonozaki family. In attendance are the heads of house, Ryubee and Fumine, as well as all three of the Sonozaki children- much to Shoutaro’s surprise: as far as he knew, Wakana isn’t supposed to be back for another week.  
  
Wakana lights up at his appearance, and she rushes to give him a hug, much to the bemusement of all three parents. “Shoutaro! It’s so nice to see you again!”  
  
“W-Wakana? You’re back?”  
  
“Yeah!” Wakana beamed, “I was going to surprise you, but Otou-san and Okaa-san brought us here and…”  
  
“Shoutaro?” His mother interrupts. “How do you know Wakana-san?”  
  
He inwardly rolls his eyes in frustration. “I’ve been friends with her since high school, Mother,” he replies as genially as he could muster. “She gave me flowers at my high school graduation, remember? Although this is my first time meeting the rest of her family.” He bows to them in greeting. “It is nice to meet you all.”  
  
Ryubee laughs, smacking Shoutaro’s back loudly, making Shoutaro jerk forward with the force of it. “Don’t be so stiff, my boy!” he says, “The way Wakana talks about you, you already feel like family to us!”  
  
“We cannot thank you enough for the kindness you’ve shown our daughter,” Fumine adds, gently placing her hand over Shoutaro’s. “You’ve been such a good friend for her.”  
  
“The best!” Wakana corrects.  
  
His mother gapes there like a fish, staring back and forth Wakana and him. A part of him is viciously pleased to see tangible proof of her non-involvement in his life. Another part is so, so angry- what kind of mother forgets what happened on her only child’s graduation day?  
  
Fortunately, Fumine seems to notice the tension and steers her, Ryubee and Saeko away, starting a conversation about their company’s philanthropic efforts. The eldest daughter smirks as she sips her champagne. “So this is the infamous Fuuto-kun-san… I see the appeal,” she teases over her shoulder, “Ne, Raito?”  
  
The boy flinches, blushing bright red. “I, uh-” Their gazes meet, and Shoutaro feels his face warm as they lock eyes.  
  
Raito’s cute, there’s no denying it. Handsome, even, in the bishonen kind of way. He has delicate, almost feminine features, looking almost like Wakana if not for the angles of his jaw and the size of his Adam’s apple. He’s tall, lean and willowy, his figure only emphasized by the elongating effect of his tailored suit. But there’s an eccentricity to him too, his thumbs slipped between the buttons on the cuffs of his shirt, and his hair held back from his face by bull clips that match his dress shirt. It suits him perfectly though, as strange as it is.  
  
Wakana giggles, lacing her arm around Shoutaro’s. “Isn’t my brother super cute?” she asks him.  
  
“Uh,” Shoutaro stammers. The question catches him off guard. Is Wakana fishing for compliments on her brother’s behalf, or is she genuinely curious? Or is she asking if he’s attracted to her brother the way Raito is to him? “He is, I guess?” Shoutaro replies hesitantly, after a moment. “Wakana, you know I’m not that kind of guy…”  
  
“I know,” Wakana responds cheerfully, “that’s why I’m going to leave you two alone so you can get to know each other better!”  
  
“Wait, Nee-san-!” Raito protests, but she has already flounced off. He looks at Shoutaro, nervously smiling. “L-Let’s get along…”

* * *

They end up loitering outside, on the ballroom’s open veranda, away from the eyes of prying guests and annoying sisters/best friends, hidden by the curtains that obstruct the view from the inside.  
  
Shoutaro looks out the garden of his maternal family’s estate, leaning on his elbows on the Romanesque ledge. The two-floor penthouse luxury suite he grew to detest, with its modern design and spectacular views, can’t compare to the grandeur of the mansion and its sprawling but manicured grounds. It’s no wonder why his mother chose this as the venue of her party.  
  
“I’m sorry about Nee-san,” Raito tells him contritely, fiddling with his fingers as he copies him.  
  
Shoutaro waves it off. “Don’t worry about it,” he says. “She’s…” He trails off, not knowing how to explain it.  
  
“Dying to set us up?” Raito asks wryly, brow arching with a little quirk.  
  
“Yeah, that,” Shoutaro laughs. “I don’t mind it, to be honest, but I’d rather get to know you on my own terms,” he explains, “and see what happens first, you know?”  
  
Raito blinks, then nods. “I see. Of course, that makes sense,” he admits, then puts a finger to his lip in thought. “Wakana-nee-san did mention something about you being demisexual, if I recall…”  
  
“What? She told you that?” Shoutaro frowns.  
  
“Not really? I… kind of eavesdropped on her talking with someone on the phone about it.” Raito tells him with a blush. “I was so desperate to hear anything about you that I did some things that are… stupid, in hindsight.” He pauses and looks up at Shoutaro. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I did. It’s not something I was meant to hear.”  
  
Again, Shoutaro shrugs off the apology. “It’s fine. It’s not like I’m hiding it.”  
He hitches himself up the ledge, swings his legs over it so he’s sitting on it facing the garden. Raito does the same, and they look out the grounds as they continue to talk.  
  
“If you don’t mind me asking,” asks Shoutaro, “what was it exactly you liked about me?”  
  
Raito shakes his head. “Really? You have to ask?” He reaches into his pants pocket, fishing something out to show him. “Remember this?”  
  
“The Fuuto-kun keychain I had Wakana give you?” he asks, genuinely surprised. The paint’s chipped in places, but it’s still recognizable as Fuuto’s windmill mascot. “You still had it?”  
  
“Of course,” Raito says, tucking it away again as he smiled fondly. “It’s been my good luck charm ever since I got better after you gave it to me. I kept thinking… the one who gave it to me must be a really good person… someone so kind to care about a complete stranger like me.” He shrugs. “Or, at least, someone who cares enough about Nee-san to try.”  
  
Shoutaro feels his ears heat. “I just don’t want anyone to cry, that’s all. Wakana least of all.”  
  
Raito smiles. “It’s enough,” he says, seriously and sincerely. “Believe me, it’s enough.”

* * *

He leaves the party that night with a hoarse voice from how long he talked to Raito, Raito’s email saved onto his phone and a promise to meet up  again soon. He finds himself smiling like a loon at his phone as he and his mother are driven back to the penthouse.  
  
“You didn’t tell me you were friends with a Sonozaki,” his mother says quietly, accusing.  
  
Shoutaro’s mood sours as he replies to an email from Raito, who tells him he and Wakana were hoping to meet up with him for coffee, and that Akiko had already agreed to go with them. “I didn’t think you’d care me being friends with _Wakana_ ,” he replies, emphasis on his friend’s first name.  
  
“Of course I do,” his mother retorts. “I’m your mother. I want to ensure you have the right people supporting you when the time comes.” She smiles at him. “I’m certain Wakana-san is that, so I will let it slide, but next time tell me.”  
  
Shoutaro resists the urge to make a scene, to tell her off and yell about how she herself has been doing a poor job at exactly what she’s saying. Instead he grits his teeth and nods stiffly. “Of course, Mother,” he concedes.  
  
She nods in return, then retrieves a file from her bag and begins to read it, effectively ending their minute-long conversation. His mother doesn’t notice him rolling his eyes and tapping at his phone viciously, telling Raito he will be there to meet up with them.

* * *

 

Wakana already has his usual order of a steamed sweet bun and an Americano with four sugar packets ready for him when he rides up to the café they had frequented in high school. Which is fortunate because his temper is still quite poor and caffeine and sugar always helps improve it.  
  
“Whoa, what the hell happened to you?” Akiko asks. “You look like overdressed crap.”  
  
“I had to go back to the penthouse so of course I look like overdressed crap,” he nearly snarls. Most of his usual stuff is over at Akiko’s, so he has to settle with the clothes he’d left behind. He looks silly wearing corporate casual next to Wakana’s flowery sundress and Akiko’s t-shirt and jeans. “Where’s Raito?” he asks as bites into his bun.  
  
“R-Right here,” a strangled voice comes from behind. Shoutaro turns to see Raito, holding up a doughnut and a cup of coffee in hand, staring at him- well, at his body. “Y-You look nice, Shoutaro,” he stammers, not meeting his eyes as he takes his seat beside him.  
  
“Uh, thanks?” Shoutaro really has no idea how else to respond. It isn’t that no one has told him he was attractive- there’s just something in the way Raito says it that struck him speechless.  
  
Giving each other a significant look, Wakana and Akiko giggle at them as the pair blush and nibble at their respective treats. Shoutaro sighs to himself, sipping his coffee, wondering what he had gotten himself into by agreeing to this day out with his two scheming friends.

* * *

But Raito is actually funny, and smart, and really charming. He has a sharp tongue, sardonic snide comments and wry jokes pouring out of him once he’s relaxed in spite of Shoutaro’s presence. And the way he spouts random factoids like a computer (much to his sister’s utter disbelief and despair, which is hilarious in of itself) is quite endearing. Shoutaro hasn’t met anyone he’s liked so much right off the bat as much as he did Raito. Not even _Wakana_ , which scares him a little.  
  
He also has lots of blackmail on Wakana, which he willingly hands over to Shoutaro, much to the older girl’s surprise. He laughs so hard he nearly falls off his seat from the force of it, and he has to grip the table as he tries to catch his breath as Wakana steadily turns red with outrage. He regales Shoutaro and Akiko with a tale of middle schooler Wakana somehow getting trapped in their older sister’s closet, just as she came back home… with a boy she started making out with in her full view, much to her horror.  
  
“Shoutaro!” She pouts at him, giving him a kicked puppy look. “It’s not funny! Raito, stop talking!” she snaps at her younger sibling.  
  
“But Nee-san~” Raito drawls, “I just thought your best friend would just like to hear some stories from our past~”  
  
“S-Shut up!” Wakana repeats with a cry.  
  
“I didn’t hear anything about this!” Akiko gasps, though her reaction is less enthused than Shoutaro’s. “How did you even find out she was stuck in there?”  
  
“She screamed when Saeko-nee-san started kissing the boy,” Raito laughs, “and when we heard it, we all burst into the room and saw her compromised state. Otou-san was so mad, he nearly blew a gasket.”  
  
Shoutaro starts smacking the table as he laughed even harder. “Oh my god. I cannot-” Shoutaro wheezes, “Wakana, how did you even get stuck in the closet to begin with?!”  
  
Wakana fiercely blushes. “I was trying to prank Nee-chan by putting a scary mask in there,” she explains, “but the door got stuck when I tried to get out.”  
  
“I didn’t know my best friend was such a voyeur,” Shoutaro guffaws, Raito chuckling beside him as Wakana shrieks and tries reaching across the table to smack them both.  
  
Shoutaro decides, even as Wakana successfully bonks his and Raito’s heads, that Raito’s laugh is something he can get used to hearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Footnotes:  
> (1) Yup, I made Raito the one pining for Shou in this fic. Mainly because most of the shippy fics for the W boys has Shou do the pining, and switching things around is nice.  
> (2) I wasn't kidding about how ridiculously wealthy Shou's family is in my hc. Let's just say that this place where the party is taking place is comparable to the Sonozaki mansion in canon.  
> (3) Raito being a little shit to his nee-san, because we all know Philip is one to his aibou.


End file.
